I love my Pebble smartwatch. For around 3 years now, it has been my daily companion. I love the e-ink screen (and resulting long battery life), the metric ton of watchfaces available, the vibrating alarm… it’s one of my favorite gadgets.

Unfortunately, Pebble went under and no new models are coming. Before they went under, I backed their Kickstarter for the Time 2, the successor to my model. I got my money back quickly, so it wasn’t a massive headache. But it was a disappointment. The fitness market was a piranha tank back then (maybe it still is now) with a lot of consolidation going on, and few pioneers surviving. I wasn’t in it for the fitness aspect anyway, just wanted a cheap, long battery notification thingy on my wrist that could also serve as a silent alarm clock.

This was all fine, since my Pebble Time would still last me a few years. That was a few years ago, and so its time has now sadly come. It reboots multiple times a day, and I can no longer trust that the alarm will actually wake me up in the morning anymore. Time to find a replacement.

Pebble’s assets were acquired by FitBit, but my dream of getting a FitBit successor to the Pebble line didn’t come through. There’s the Versa, but it’s a bit out of my price range, and it’s just not the same.

So I’ve decided to go for the Amazfit Bip, which boasts a 45 day battery, notifications and even heart rate monitoring and GPS that I don’t really need but meh. I’ll have a review up as soon as I get a proper feel for it.

I’ve recreated my favorite watchface in React, and it even works as a standalone app on Android (use Firefox’s or Chrome’s “Add to Homescreen” feature). Here’s the source and it’s live here.

Goodbye, old friend. Hope your replacement is up to the job.